Marshall roof fix in works over Christmas break

LYNN – Two straight weeks of rain, ice and snow have created difficult situations throughout the area, including at city schools. The elements are wrecking havoc the buildings already in need of extensive repair.Perhaps the most glaring problem is at the Marshall Middle School. The roof, already in need of replacing, has been covered in snow and ice since last Thursday’s snowstorm, causing persistent leaks that eventually forced the school to close two classrooms.Director of Inspectional Services Michael Donovan said Friday that the majority of leaks are taking place in the areas of the skylights, where the snow has piled too high, causing excessive leakage through the seams. Workers attempted to shovel off the roof and patch the leaks earlier this week, but the cold weather created a sheet of ice on the roof that was too dangerous for workers to brave.”The leaks that are happening at the Marshall are not there when it rains. They are because the snow has gotten too high up around the skylights,” said Donovan. “The solution is to go up there and shovel, but it just isn’t safe. We sent one guy up there and he slipped and fell on the ice. It is a flat roof, and he wasn’t near the edge, but it is just too dangerous to go up there.”Donovan said he is hoping a warmer forecast over Christmas break will melt some of the ice and allow his workers to clean off the roof and patch the leaks.Marshall Principal Richard Cowdell said the leaks forced him to move students out of two classrooms until the problem is fixed.The students and teachers have adapted well as they shifted to a large teacher’s workroom for class on Thursday, and a field trip voided the problem on Friday, but Cowdell is concerned that the quality of learning will deteriorate if workers are not able to patch the leaks over vacation.”It has been incredible. (Thursday) the teachers and kids here were very flexible, and we had no behavioral incidents. It is encouraging that everything went so smoothly,” he said. “These kids showed that they can really come together when there is a problem, but my hope is that it will be fixed during school vacation because it will lead to larger problems (if the students cannot return to those classrooms).”Donovan said other schools have reported minor leakage issues, which he is hoping to address soon as well.The weather has also created problems at the Lincoln-Thompson Elementary School, where a clogged catch basin continues to back up and create dangerous, frozen puddles. Parents have also reported that the doors and windows are outdated and the sidewalk outside of the building is cracked.Donovan has seen the damage, and is aware of the problems, but he said he can only do so much in the way of repairs when just about every school in the city has an issue.In the case of the clogged catch basin, for example, Donovan said the job would have to be contracted out, and is not work than can be completed in the winter months.He said he has an extensive list of problems at each school, and says he must focus on the most serious matters first, such as a recent boiler failure at the Ford School that ended up costing the city thousands in unbudgeted money.”What comes first is a life-safety event. Broken windows or fire doors, no heat, things like that,” he said. “We are aware of the problems at other schools. Unfortunately they are down further on the list. It would be nice if we could get them done, but there just isn’t enough time and money to do so.”If I had all the money in the world to work with, there would be a new roof on every school. We just have to prioritize, and like I said, it is the life-safety issues that get the most attention.”